Green juice now, champagne later.

Bread Tribeca: a hidden treasure

My mom and I pulled up the trusty restaurant app, Urban Spoon, which came up with a billion places right in the one mile radius that we were currently in. Welcome to New York City! We found a restaurant off the beaten path called Bread Tribeca, with a description including Italian, organic, and homemade delicious food. On the walk over from busy and bustling Canal Street, complete with fake purse vendors and tourist stops, we took a left onto Church Street, where you could actually hear yourself think. It was weird…almost too quiet. Once we reached the quaint little Bread Tribeca, we were welcomed by a friendly manager (Julian) and a “Zagat rated” sticker on the front window. And I’ll get to the reason I know the manager’s name in a bit.

The restaurant had few tables, but ample space to spread out and enjoy your meal with friends and actually hear each other’s conversations. We started with the cocktail list–very impressive. I had the Valentino–a deliciously fruity cocktail served in a champagne flute complete with prosecco, passion fruit puree and a dash of strawberry Stoli. It was so amazing, I drank it a little too fast and wished it didn’t come along with it’s price tag of $11.

The other menus were handed to us including the dinner menu and the vegetarian/vegan/health conscious menu. New York City is packed with eateries that are conscious of the growing number of vegans and other health conscious people. Many restaurants I have stumbled upon offer many of their dishes without dairy, meat, and even include soy cheeses and other replacements.

We started with the bruschetta, which was pretty good but small. I had the ligurian fusili al pesto genovese. Sounds fancy, huh? It’s the one pictured up at the top of this post, and it was amazing. The pesto wasn’t too creamy, too rich, just right. The strange part was that it was mixed in with fingerling potatoes and green beans. It truly agrees with your taste buds.

My mom went with the quattro formaggi (four cheese pizza). Although I didn’t try it because I was so into my heaping portion of fusili, it looked great, and my mom seemed to enjoy it.

And just for your visual pleasure, my friend Katherine ordered the special (pictured above).

So back to the manager, Julian. When there was mention of the fact that the three of us were from Austin, Texas, benefits began to roll in. He treated us very well, as he lived in Houston for a while and raved about Austin. But, then again, who doesn’t? He comped many items on our bill, and I can guarantee I will be back for more. If I had more than two thumbs, I’d put more thumbs up for this place.

And on a side note, we stopped at Serendipity last night for the famous frozen hot chocolate. I think the photo explains it all. A bit of a touristy place, but we decided it was necessary to try it. It was worth it.